Live Video: Grimes

From a street-tough name like Grimes, you might expect some kind of skeezy or tough-as-nails rap, but the music of young Vancouver-bred, Montreal-based artist Claire Boucher is anything but. The 23-year old DJ/producer builds glimmering, otherworldly songs layer upon layer with synth loops, electronic beats, and found sounds, over which her little-girlish falsetto hovers eerily and ethereally. Critics and fans are going nuts over her latest, and third album, Visions, which is exactly what her songs are, though they might easily also be called “inventions” or “playthings” for all of Boucher’s wild creativity on display. Recently, Grimes stopped by the KEXP studio for a truly unique performance and stunned us beyond words as she knelt among all of her electronics spread across the floor like a kid at play.